Price-setting mechanism for computing counters



1969 L. J. SUNDBLOM I 3,

PRICE-SETTING MECHANISM FOR COMPUTING COUNTERS Filed Feb. 17, 1967 Sheet of 4 INVENTOR. F i G 4 LE" J. SUNDBLOM ATTORNEYS,

"Feb. 4, 1969 SUNDBLOM' 3,425,291

PRICE-SETTINGMECHANISM FOR COMPUTING COUNTERS Filed'Feb. 17, 1967 x Sheet 2 of 4 TENTH-OF-CENT OUTPUT TO COMPUTING SECTION 42 .E: CENTS OUTPUT TO COMPUTI SECTION 46 E 34 48 g TENS-OF-CENTS 32 E OUTPUT TO 5, COMPUTING 30 5 SECTION g 29 E 24 g l 56 INPUT DRIVE F |e 3 E LEIF J. SUNDBLOM BY ATTORNEYS Feb. 4, 1969 1.. J7 SUNDBLOM 3,425,291

PRICE-SETTING MECHANISM FOR COMPUTING COUNTERS Filed Feb. 17, 1967 Sheet 3 of 4 INVENTQR. LEIF J. SUNDBLOM I ATTORNEYS FlG 5 Feb. 4, 1969 SUNDBLQM 3,425,291

PRICE-SETTING MECHANISM FOR COMPUTING COUNTERS Fi led Feb. 17, 1967 Sheet 6154 56 |QO I22 INVENTOR.

LEIF J. SUNDBLOM BY ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,425,291 PRICE-SETTING MECHANISM FOR COMPUTING COUNTERS Leif J. Sundblom, 18042 Lamson Road, Castro Valley, Calif. 94546 Filed Feb. 17, 1967, Ser. No. 616,948 US. Cl. 74-348 Int. Cl. F1611 3/ 28, 3/36 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The longitudinal and rocking motion of pick-off gears during their movement from one gear of a conical gear stack to another is accomplished by way of cams and rack-and-pinion means in such a manner that the input motion can be purely rotary and that the depth of engagement of the pick-off gear and the stack gear are controlled.

Background of the invention Summary of the invention The mechanism of the aforesaid application Ser. No. 412,974 requires a complete revolution of the setting shaft in order to move a pick-off gear from engagement with one gear of a conical gear stack to engagement with the next. This type of operation is satisfactory with the type of equipment described in application Serial No. 412,974, but it is not adaptable to mechanisms such as those commonly used in gasoline pumps for service stations. Setting mechanisms for this type of pump have heretofore used arrangements in which setting levers had to be moved in a U-shaped motion from one position to the next in order to effect a change of position of the pick-off. gear. It is inherent in that type of construction that the setting controls are best arranged in a circular pattern, and as a result, they are not all accessible from the same side of the pump. The mechanism of the present invention, by contrast, is such that the settings can all be accomplished from the same side of the pump by turning shafts which may be positioned close to each other for convenience. The mechanism of this invention {further allowsthese sha-fts to actuate the pick-off gears in such a manner that each movement from one stack gear to the next requires only one-tenth of a revolution of the setting shaft.

It is therefore the object of the invention to provide a price-setting mechanism for gasoline pumps in which the complex motion of a pick-off gear in going from one stack gear to the next can be accomplished by a simple 3-6-degree rotation of a control shaft.

It is another object of the invention to afford precise individual control of the relative depth of engagement of the pick-off gear and the stack gear in every position of the pick-off gear.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a mechanism of the type described in which the axis of the pick-off gear can be kept parallel to the axis of the conical stack.

3,425,291 Patented Feb. 4, 1969 "ice Brief description of the drawings FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a gasoline pump in which the invention is useful;

FIG. 2 is a partial flow diagram of the computing motion accomplished in the pump of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary perspective view showing the price-setting mechanism associated with the tens-of-cents stack;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary perspective view showing the setting mechanisms associated with the stack which combines the cents settings and the tenths-of-a-cent settings;

FIG. 5 is a front elevation of the setting mechanism of this invention; and

FIG. 6 is a plan view of the setting mechanism of this invention? Description of the preferred embodiment In FIG. 1, a gasoline pump according to this invention is shown generally at 10. The pump 10 has a pump section 12 and a computing section 114. One set of dials 16 indicates the total price of the purchase, and the total gallonage is indicated by a second set of dials 18. A third set of dials 20 indicates the price per gallon as set by the means of the setting shafts 22.

Referring to FIG. 2, the motion of the pump mechanism in the pump section 12 is fed as an input drive 24 to a ten-step conical gear stack 26. The motion of the conical gear stack 26 is picked off by a pick-off gear 28 which can be selectively engaged with any one of the ten gears of the conical stack 26. The motion of the pick-off gear 28 is transferred through an idler gear 30 to an output gear 32 which drives the shaft 34 representing the tens-of-cents output of the price selection device to the computing section. The functioning of the computing section is described in my copendin'g application Ser. No. 616,820, filed Feb. 17, 1967, now Patent No. 3,355,100 entitled, Computing Mechanism for Counters.

In addition to the conical stack 26, the input drive 24 also drives gear 3 6. The motion of gear 36 is transmitted through an idler gear 38 to a gear 40 in a 4: 1 reduction. The gear 40 drives an eleven-step conical gear stack 42.

The pick-off gear 44 can be selectively engaged with any of the ten rightmost steps (in FIG. 2) of the conical stack '42. Its motion is transmitted through the idler gear 4 6 to the shaft 48 which constitutes the cents output to the computing section.

On the other side of the conical stack 42, the pick-off gear 50 can be engaged with any of the leftmost ten gears of the conical stack 42. The motion of pick-off gear 50 is transmitted through idler gear 52 to the shaft 54 which constitutes the tenths-of-a-cent output to the computing section.

FIG. 3 shows in detail the manner in which the movement of the pick-off gear 28 from engagement with one of the gears of stack 26 to engagement with another is accomplished. In FIG. 3, the conical gear stack is again shown at 26. The pick-off gear is shown at 28, and it will be understood that the pick-off gear 28 can be moved into engagement with each of the gears of the conical stack 26, the invention providing means hereinafter discussed hy which the pick-off gear 28 can be lifted away from a particular gear of the stack 26, moved axially opposite an adjacent gear, and swung back by a generally sinusoidal motion into engagement with that adjacent gear with a controllable amount of depth of engagement.

The number of tens of cents set on the device of FIG. 3 is shown on the indicating disc 56, whose topmost figure appears in a window as shown at 20 in FIG. 1. The disc 56 is fixedly mounted on the setting shaft 58 which is the leftmost of the three setting shafts 22 shown in FIG. 1. Preferably, the front end of the shaft 58 is provided with a slot 60 for insertion of a screwdriver by means of which the shaft 58 can be rotated. The rotation of the shaft 58 is transmitted to 'a helical gear 62 and to a cam 64, both of which are keyed to it. The motion of the helical gear 62 is transmitted to a matching helical gear 66, which is keyed to the rack pinion 68 through the intermediary of a sleeve 70 freely rotatable on the supporting shaft 72.

The pinion 68 engages a cylindrical rack 74 which can freely rotate and slide on the shaft 34. It is to be noted that shaft 34 is parallel to the axis of the conical stack 26, thereby avoiding the necessity of using stack gears and pick-off gears with angular teeth. Mounting difiiculties of the stack 26 are thereby also avoided. Fixedly mounted to the cylindrical rack 74 is a bracket 76 which supports gears 28 and 30. Gear 32 is keyed to shaft 34 and it will be seen that since bracket 76 is pivoted on shaft 34, gear 30 Will remain in engagement with gear 32 in all positions of the bracket 76.

Bracket 76 is provided with an ear 78 which can slide longitudinally in the slot 80 of bail 82. The bail 82 is mounted for pivotal movement about shaft 34 and is urged in a counterclockwise direction about shaft 34 by a spring 83 attached to a stud 84 on the frame of the machine. At its rear end in FIG. 3, the bail 82 carries an arm 86 on which is mounted a cam follower 88. The cam follower 88 engages the surface of cam 64 and is biased thereagainst by the spring 83. It will be seen that the cam 64 is in essence a toothed snail cam of increasing radius in a clockwise direction. Each of the teeth 90 has an inclined surface 92, a rounded tip 94, and a second inclined surface 96 which ends in a tangential surface 98.

The operation of the device of FIG. 3 is as follows:

When it is desired to change the price per gallon from a given number of tens of cents to another (e.g., down to the 20-to-29-cent range) a screwdriver is inserted into the slot 60 and the shaft 58 is turned, e.g., in a clockwise direction in FIG. 3. Immediately, the cam follower 88 rides up the inclined surface 92, and by so doing, it causes the bail 82 to pivot clockwise about shaft 34 against the bias of spring 83. The movement of bail 82 causes bracket 76 to pivot clockwise about shaft 34 also, and pick-off gear 28 is swung out of engagement with the gear stack 26. Simultaneously, the rotation of shaft 58 is transmitted through gears 62 and 66 and sleeve 70 to the pinion '68 which moves the cylindrical rack 74 backward in FIG. 3. As the cam follower 188 rides over the rounded tip 94 of the tooth 90, the advancement of the cylindrical rack 74 moves the pick-off gear 28 into the range of the next smaller gear of stack 26. As soon as the pick-off gear 28 has come within the range of the next smaller gear, the cam follower quickly rides down the inclined surface 96 under the bias of spring 83 and comes to rest on the tangential surface 98. The distance of the tangential surface 98 from the surface of shaft 58 determines the maximum amount to which the cam follower 88 can allow the bail 82 to swing toward the stack 26 in each position. Consequently, by proper choice of the radius of the tangential surfaces 98 on cam 64, the depth of engagement between pick-off gear 28 and the various gears of stack 26 can be individually regulated and excessively tight engagement (which would result in undue friction loss) can be avoided.

It will be appreciated that the movement of pick-off gear 28 in going from one stack gear to the next is generally sinusoidal. Consequently, it is necessary to space the stack gears from one another rather than allowing them to abut directly against one another.

Turning now to FIG. 4, it will be seen that the mechanisms for the cents setting and the tenths-of-a-cent setting work substantially in the same manner. In the cents section, the indicating disc 100 is mounted to a setting shaft 102 (this being the center one of the setting shafts 22 in FIG. 1), and the motion of shaft 102 is transmitted through helical gears 104, 106 and sleeve 108 to pinion 110. In this instance, however, the slender configuration of the conical stack 42, and the consequent low amount of swing required of bail 112, permit the use of a straight rack 1114 in lieu of the cylindrical rack 74 shown in FIG. 3. The rack 114, which is integrally formed with the bracket 116, pivots about shaft 48 under the influence of the pivotal motion of bail 112 about shaft 48. The latter movement, of course, is provided by the motion of cam follower 118 on the cam 120 when shaft 102 is turned. The operation of the mechanism from the engagement of pick-off gear 44 with one of the gears in stack 42 until its engagement with the next one is essentially identical to the operation described in connection with FIG. 3.

Likewise, tenths-of-a-cent indicating disc 122 is fixed to shaft 124, and its motion is transmitted through helical gears 126, 128 and sleeve 130 to the pinion 132 which operates the rack 134 pivoted by bail 136. Both pick-off wheel 44 and pick-off wheel 50 are biased toward the stack 42 by spring 138, which is connected between bails 112 and 136.

It will be seen that the present invention provides a simple price-setting mechanism which can be set with a minimum of effort by simple rotary motion from a single location on the face of the pump.

It will be understood that the teachings of this invention can be carried out in various ways, of which the embodiment described herein is merely illustrative. Therefore, I do not desire to be limited by the embodiment shown and described, but only by the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. A price-setting mechanism for computing counters, comprising:

(a) a stack of coaxial gears of varying diameter;

(b) a pick-off gear;

(0) a setting shaft; and

(d) means for moving said pick-off gear from engagement with one of said coaxial gears to a position clear of said stack and back into engagement with an adjacent one of said coaxial gears by rotating said setting shaft through a fraction of a revolution.

2. The device of claim 1, in which the axis of said pick-off gear is parallel to the common axis of said coaxial gears.

3. The device of claim 1, further comprising means for individually limiting the depth of engagement of said pick-01f gear with each of said coaxial gears.

4. A price-setting mechanism for computing counters, comprising:

(a) a stack of coaxial gears of varying diameter;

(-b) a pick-off gear;

(c) a setting shaft carrying cam means;

(d) output shaft means carrying an output gear;

(e) bracket means supporting said pick-off gear, said bracket means being pivotable about said output shaft means, and said pick-off gear being operationally engaged with said output gear;

(f) means for pivoting said bracket means to move said pick-off gear radially toward and away from said gear stack, including cam follower means engagcable with said cam means;

(g) rack means connected to said bracket means for movement therewith at least axially of said output shaft; and

(h) gear-and-pinion means for transmitting rotary motion of said setting shaft and converting it into translatory motion of said rack means axially of said output shaft;

(i) said cam means and gear-and-pinion means being arranged to move said rack means through the distance between two adjacent coaxial gears, and to move said pick-01f gear away from said stack and back into engagement therewith, in a fraction of a revolution of said setting shaft.

5. The device of claim 4, in which said means for pivoting said bracket means includes bail means pivotable 8. The device of claim 4, in Which the axis of said out.- on said utput shaft and slidingly engageable with said put shaft means and the (30111111011 axis of said coaxial gears bracket means for permitting free movement of said are Parallel. bracket means lengthwise of said bail but not transversely References Cited thereof; said bail means including an arm carrying said 5 UNITED STATES PATENTS cam means- 2,662,417 12/1953 Mascherpa 74 34s 6. The device of claim 4, 1n whlch said rack means is 2,743,622 5/1956 Haupt cylindrical and is coaxial with said output shaft but axially 2 907 21 11 959 Haupt 7 5 slidable and rotatable with respect thereto.

7. The device of claim 4, in which said cam means has 10 NLEY J. STOCKING, Primary Examiner. surface portions contacting said cam follower means When HENRY LAYTON Assistant Examiner said pick-off gear is in engagement with said coaxial gears, said surface acting to individually limit the depth of engagement of said pick-off gear with said coaxial gears. 15 74*352 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION atent No. 3,425 ,29l February 4 1969 Leif J. Sundblom It is certified that error appears in the above identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as Shown below:

In the heading to the printed specification, lines 4 and 5, "18042 amson Road, Castro Valley, Calif. 94546" should read Castro Valley, Calif. ssignor to Rockwell Manufacturing Company, Statesboro, Georgia, a corporation f Pennsylvania Signed and sealed this 24th day of March 1970.

:SEAL) kttest:

Edward M. Fletcher, Jr.

Lttesting Officer Commissioner of Patents 

